Aberdeen City – The Freezing Atlantic – CD

Aberdeen City – The Freezing Atlantic – CD(Dovecote Records) This Boston band is likely to get a lot of comparisons to great English ambient mind-rockers like Coldplay, Radiohead, and Elbow. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Personally, I like this disc very much, and think they have a lot going for them. The sound is very experimental and raw, while the rhythm propels the whole thing forward at a lurching, my-first-day-as-Frankenstein’s-creature pace. There’s really only one sonic drawback: the lack of definition in the bass ranges, making the sound a little more metallic than it probably wants to be. But the songs are masterful: even the nearly eight-minute “Brighton” is interesting at every turn. Who knows what they do when producer Steve Lilliwhite (U2, Morrissey) isn’t around? They might not have the arrangements as tight, but I’d like to know for sure, because this stuff is too good to not be noticed.
– Jeremy Mutant (2006)